After Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez unified the junior bantamweight titles against Phumelele Cafu on Saturday, the Texan told the South African he had meant no disrespect for signing for his next fight before they boxed.
Rodriguez is scheduled to face Fernando “Puma” Martinez in November, and Cafu’s team felt they were being overlooked.
In fact, before fight week in Texas, Martinez had appeared at a press conference announcing the fight with Rodriguez.
Rodriguez improved to 22-0 (15 KOs) to set up the mouth-watering match with the 18-0 (9 KOs) Martinez, in Saudi Arabia.
Cafu was stopped in the 10th round in Frisco – his record dropping to 11-1-3 (8 KOs) – and in the dressing room afterwards, Rodriguez visited Cafu.
“I appreciate you, good fight,” Rodriguez told Cafu.
“With the Martinez fight, I mean no disrespect to you or your team. They asked me if I wanted to fight after this one. I said yes. I didn’t know they were going to announce it, but I wasn’t overlooking you. I knew you were a tough opponent and I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to fight you and unify the division. Thank you. Respect.”
Rodriguez added Cafu’s WBO belt to his WBC title. Martinez has the WBA crown.
